By Norrasyidah Arshad
SHAH ALAM, July 5 — Half of the candidates that will represent Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) in the Selangor state election next month will be new faces.
This is according to the party's state chairman Izham Hashim, who also confirmed that the political outfit will be fielding youth and women candidates capable of delivering victories for Pakatan Harapan (Harapan).
"We have gotten our seat allocations. We want to defend the eight seats we won last time out," he told reporters after inspecting road widening works along Persiaran Mokhtar Dahari, here, today.
Izham said following the finalisation of seat negotiations, parties are also now allowed to swap their seats among themselves, although no such movement has taken place so far.
"What's important is we want to ensure victory and for Harapan to secure two-thirds majority to continue administering Selangor.
"We have proven in the last five years that Selangor is stable under our administration. When there is stability, we can offer more help to the rakyat."
In the last general election, Harapan dominated Selangor after securing 51 out of the 56 available seats. Barisan Nasional (BN) and PAS have four and one seats respectively.
Following political developments, Harapan is left with 40 seats as of the time of the state dissolution on June 25, followed by BN (five), Bersatu (four), Parti Bangsa Malaysia (two), PAS (one), Pejuang (one), Warisan (one) and independent (one).
One seat — Batang Kali — was declared vacant after its incumbent failed to attend a state assembly sitting for over six months.
Amanah, meanwhile, won eight of the ten seats it contested in 2018, namely Taman Templer, Hulu Kelang, Pandah Indah, Sungai Ramal, Seri Serdang, Meru, Sabak and Morib. The two seats it lost were Hulu Bernam and Sungai Panjang.
However, Meru assemblyman Mohd Fakhrulrazi Mohd Mokhtar and Sabak' Ahmad Mustain Othman later quit the party in 2021 to join PKR, leaving Amanah with six seats.
